The Master Sword Is My-

Claire’s life has been marked by storms. 

On the night her parents died, a fire storm swept through the county. In the middle of their burial, it hailed. During her high school graduation, tornado sirens cut off the valedictorian. Chris’ basic training graduation was held during a record-breaking heatwave, then a thunderstorm forced his police academy one inside. It rained the night Claire went through literal hell in Raccoon City.

And it snows unseasonably early the night Claire has her first kiss. 

Outside the motel, snow flurries and turns the night sky a deep, soft blue. Inside, the dinky television is the only source of snow. The slight snowy static from the screen mimics the static on the back of Claire's neck. She focuses on the cheesy movie playing and not on Leon sitting beside her on the worn-out couch that has probably seen far too much in its time. But certainly not on how Leon’s bare thigh touches hers under the blanket or how his uninjured arm over the couch back brushes against her head and shoulders, electrifying every single downy strand of her hair. Instead of listening to Leon's slow breaths or the embarrassingly loud beat of her own heart, Claire focuses on the sounds of the snow plow clearing the squall outside the motel, Sherry's soft snoring through the closed door of the little bedroom, and the jumbled conversation on the fuzzy screen. 

"How's your wound doing?" Claire asks when Leon shifts beside her, thigh pressing more firmly against her own.

"Which one? Shoulder or ear?"

Claire laughs, sudden and sharp as Leon turns his head to better show off the fresh ear piercing. The other day, Sherry told them she had begged her parents to let her get her ears pierced for years, but they never did. Claire suspects it was less to do with being opposed to the piercing but more about actually spending the time with their daughter that taking her to get her ears pierced would entail. 

So an hour later, they all ended up at the Claire's jewelry store in the nearest mall. But Sherry got nervous about the needle gun even though she was trying to put on a brave face, so Claire and Leon both took turns plopping themselves down in the piercing chair to show her it wasn't scary or painful. They can't get Sherry a puppy or fix everything or even anything that's happened, but they sure as hell can get piercings at Claire's in solidarity.

Claire pretends to consider Leon's rhetorical question, then answers, "Both of your very brave battle wounds. How're they healing up?"